Personally, I would get an SSD as a boot drive (a 64GB one will do) and get a separate HDD as a game drive and downloads drive. That's the setup I have now, and it's nice and fast with the speed of the SSD and also I have enough storage with my HDD's.

Like others have said. you don't need such a big SSD. Just get a 128gb one and run your OS and major apps off it. You can even install your games on that since it's actually a lot of storage once you turn off a couple of windows features. (hybernate+pagefile<-- don't turn this off just lower and move to your other drive).

your OS will go on the SSD and then you can get a regular 7200rpm drive for storage. that setup will cost you less than what you are currently thinking of and it will work better.

Intel SSDs are overpriced IMO. They're fast, but if you're interested in top of the line you should look at Samsung 840 Pro, Corsair Neutron, or OCZ Vector. The Samsung & OCZ SSDs I've worked with have been rock solid. Generally 240GB is a good starting point.. 64GB seems too small, even for just a boot drive, no? My own Win8 boot drive is already using more than 64 GB.

Like others mentioned, SSDs usually won't be big enough to be your only drive so you'll probably want the SSD as your boot drive & have a 2nd drive for your data. But you can kind of figure this one out on your own, just check out how much disk space you're using in your current system. This will give you a rough idea of how much total disk space you're likely to need.

You can even install your games on that since it's actually a lot of storage once you turn off a couple of windows features.

My Steam folder alone is 365GB. It all depends on what you have, though. I just started using an SSD and love it, but if you game a LOT, then it's still on the slower drive, so you won't see any gains there, but your everyday work will be MUCH faster. If you've got the money, as mentioned, get a 128GB SSD and the Velociraptor. If not, then get an SSD and a 7200RPM drive. Stay away from the "green" drives at least.

My Steam folder alone is 365GB. It all depends on what you have, though. I just started using an SSD and love it, but if you game a LOT, then it's still on the slower drive, so you won't see any gains there, but your everyday work will be MUCH faster. If you've got the money, as mentioned, get a 128GB SSD and the Velociraptor. If not, then get an SSD and a 7200RPM drive. Stay away from the "green" drives at least.

You can install Steam to your HDD, then you can create a Steam library on your SSD, to which you can install games to, if you really want. I have a dedicated 80 GB Intel SSD for Steam games, but also have a Steam library on one of my HDD's to which I can install more games.

You can install Steam to your HDD, then you can create a Steam library on your SSD, to which you can install games to, if you really want. I have a dedicated 80 GB Intel SSD for Steam games, but also have a Steam library on one of my HDD's to which I can install more games.

What does that gain you? Does it make Steam itself faster? Games will load slowly, or am I missing something?